For anyone into Phonk (especially the Brazilian scene), the moniker MSTERSND will likely be familiar. For everybody else, allow me to introduce him: a talented singer, songwriter, and producer, Turkish creative Cengizhan Öztürk boasts millions of streams and tons of viral tracks, making him one of the most exciting names on the Phonk underground. Not to mention, he’s very young, and he holds formal music training.
‘YAD (You Always Dreamed)’ is MSTERSND’s latest album, a record that completely breaks off from his previous Phonk era and kickstarts a new, glorious era of musical exploration. In it, we find Öztürk at his most reflective and nuanced, delving deeper into crepuscular hip-hop and tender electronica. The result is an emotional, introspective record, one that also features an extended list of like-minded collaborators. Throughout eight tracks, ‘YAD (You Always Dreamed)’ showcases the real potential behind MSTERSND: virality has left space for a higher purpose.
Intrigued by the project, we caught up with Cengizhan to learn more about his artistry and future goals… interview below!
Hi Cengizhan, thanks for chatting with us! I am quite curious about the connection between a Turkish producer (yourself) and the Brazilian Phonk scene. How did you get into it initially? I suppose social media played a pivotal role in that?
Yeah, social media was basically the whole thing. I wasn’t connected to Brazil at all; I just started making Phonk because it was everywhere on TikTok and YouTube in 2023. MONTAGEM GOSTOSINHO was one of the first things that clicked. The reason it resonated in Brazil specifically is that this type of track becomes popular incredibly fast there; the audience already had that appetite for that kind of energy. TikTok put my track in front of the right people at the right time. And there was literally zero advertising budget behind it. No paid promotion, nothing. It just spread on its own.
You started out composing on the piano when you were just five, and fast forward to today, you’ve hit tens of millions of global streams with viral tracks like ‘MONTAGEM GOSTOSINHO’. How did that massive jump from classical roots to global electronic virality shape who you are as an artist?’
The piano was actually my goal when I was young. I was composing pieces on it and genuinely loved it. But as I got older, I realised it wasn’t really the destination. It was just the first tool I had access to. What I actually wanted was to compose freely, to hear all the sounds in my head at once without being limited to one instrument. When I discovered Music Maker Jam, I could suddenly have drums, bass, and everything together. Even within the limits of those packages, I could do what I wanted back then. That felt much closer to what I was actually after.
FL Studio took it further. Going from all that to global streams was honestly a surprise. I was just making music I wanted to hear. The fact that people around the world connected to it wasn’t something I planned. I’m really happy with where things are now. Knowing that people can discover my music and actually listen to it means a lot.
All good things come to an end, and after a successful stint in the Phonk scene, MSTERSND is not venturing down a more nuanced and leftfield path. What made you want to step away from that sound so abruptly and create something completely different with your latest album, ‘YAD’?
‘AMINAKE FUNK, MONTAGEM GOSTOSINHO’: those tracks delivered what was expected of them. But what was genuinely getting to me was how many artists in the Phonk space were over-relying on AI tools, putting out nearly identical tracks one after another just to stay in the feed. I wanted to put a stop to that, at least for myself. So around mid-2025, I started working on the album. I wanted to make something that required real time and real care, something completely different from Phonk. The complete opposite of the copy-paste-release mentality.
The production for your debut album took a full year, and you ended up ruthlessly cutting the tracklist in half, from 16 songs down to 8. You’ve also been very vocal about having a strict ‘no-AI’ rule for this project. Can you walk us through that intense, perfectionist process and explain why keeping the music strictly human and digital was such a big deal for you?
Almost all of the production decisions on the album were mine; there are only two tracks where that wasn’t the case. So I was making every call, building everything piece by piece. It was painful at times. Started with one track in May 2025, and it kept growing. At one point, there were 16 songs. Then I started cutting: if something didn’t feel right, it was gone. The album wasn’t fully finished until four days before the May 1st release date.
The no-AI rule was a line I drew early and didn’t move on. Rather than using AI-generated content, I try to rely on real instruments and real vocal performances. On ‘YAD’ that was non-negotiable. AI-generated audio has this quality to it that I find dishonest. There’s no struggle behind it, no real decisions made. Every sound on this album came from a real instrument, a digital instrument played with intention, or a real human vocal. That matters to me.
You have obviously grown a lot, both as an artist and a producer, in the past year or so. Are you proud of how the album turned out? Is there a particular message that underlines the album? What does the record represent for you?
Really proud of it, yeah. Eight songs, and every single one of them earned its place. ‘YAD’ stands for ‘You Always Dreamed.’ That’s the thread that runs through the whole thing. But it’s not a happy-clappy motivational record; instead, it starts in a pretty rough place. ‘Drive Me Crazy’, ‘Any Further’, ‘15 Pt. 2’: those tracks are about feeling lost, disconnected, not being able to move forward. That’s where the album opens, and I think that’s honest.
Then it shifts. ‘All of Love’, the title track, ‘Pray To God’: that’s where it gets to something more like peace. ‘I hope you feel all the peace and all the light you always dreamed about’: that line from the title track is basically the whole album in one sentence. It’s the destination that the first half is trying to reach.
What does it represent for me personally? It’s proof that finishing something matters more than being ready to finish it. I wasn’t ready. The album wasn’t done four days before release. But it got done. That gap between dreaming about something and actually seeing it through; that’s what ‘YAD’ is about.
Is there a particular artist or scene that influenced ‘YAD’? Furthermore, I’d love to know what you listen to in your free time?
Ye, known as Kanye West, is genuinely one of my biggest inspirations. His production is incredible. Actually, on ‘Don’t Leave Me Alone’ from ‘YAD’, I sampled Michelle Wiley’s ‘I Feel So At Home Here’. That’s the first time I’ve ever used a sample in one of my tracks. Working with it made me understand all over again why Ye loves this approach so much. In my free time I listen to pretty much everything. As long as the lyrics are meaningful and the beat feels right, that’s enough for me. Hip-hop, rock; it all ends up in the rotation.
Collaboration seems key on this record. How did tracks like ‘All of Love’ and ‘Pray To God’ evolve from their early stages during your sessions with artists like Effrey, Ayça Deniz, and Hatsune Miku?
‘All of Love’ started as a completely different track, ‘Eldorina Funk’, which I ended up pulling from platforms and rebuilding from scratch. Effrey, Efe, has actually been in my corner since I first started with FL Studio. We made Phonk tracks together back in those days, so when this project came around, the collaboration felt natural. He came in early and really shaped the direction of the whole thing. Once we understood what the track was becoming, Ayça Deniz joined as the main vocalist, and everything clicked. I also added some additional vocals myself on that one.
‘Pray To God’ came together differently. Hatsune Miku wasn’t originally going to be on it at all; there was a completely different beat, and the vocals were already there. But I wasn’t happy with the beat, so about one or two months before the May release I rebuilt it from scratch. Ayça and I re-recorded the vocals, and then I thought: why not add Hatsune? We’d used a lot of autotune on Ayça’s vocals in that track for aesthetic reasons, and Hatsune Miku’s voice just felt like the right fit alongside that. I’d actually wanted to work with Hatsune for a long time. I used the Vocaloid software; there’s something genuinely interesting about placing that iconic synthetic voice next to music that’s otherwise very intentional and human.
Looking ahead, what’s next for you now that this album is out in the world? Is there already a new project on the horizon?
I’ve spent about a year on this first album, so honestly, I just want a little breathing room right now. I need some time to focus and let new ideas come naturally. But I will say that yes, towards the end of 2026 or into 2027, there’s a big album in mind. Something much more expansive than ‘YAD’. I don’t want to give too many spoilers… that’s all I can say for now. Thank you so much!